You Remind Me of Me A Novel by Dan Chaon

Author:Dan Chaon
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Fiction
ISBN: 9780345478719
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2008-10-23T21:00:00+00:00

18

October 10, 1996

They grew up together in Little Bow, South Dakota. Two brothers, Troy and Jonah. They ran through the bare, grassless backyard toward the railroad tracks, carrying sticks and yelling “Charge,” yelling “Seize them!” like soldiers in a cartoon, and Troy, who was older, led the way. They swept their weapons down on a battalion of high weeds.

They sat at the kitchen table eating bologna sandwiches that their grandfather had made, and under their chairs, the dog Elizabeth lowered her muzzle thoughtfully onto her paws, hoping for food to fall. Troy ate silently for a while, moody; his eyes rested on Jonah. He could be bossy sometimes, even a bully, but Jonah knew that Troy would protect him.

“We should set up a fortress, don’t you think?” Troy said—he was a soldier talking to his wise, bearded adviser—and Jonah nodded. “Yes,” he said, and he remembered the clutter of plywood and two-by-fours that his grandfather had left behind the garage. They would spend the afternoon building, and when their mother came home she would call from the back door. She was tired after a day at work, but she wanted to talk to them. She pressed her lips against Troy’s forehead, and then Jonah’s, listening to their stories as Grandpa Joe and the dog came softly from the little back room into the kitchen.

And when they became adults they would be close, Jonah thought. There would be a quiet attachment between them, even though they took different paths. They would sit at the bar drinking beers together. Jonah would stand on Troy’s doorstep, an armful of Christmas gifts for Loomis; they’d sit on the hood of Troy’s car, watching Fourth of July fireworks, and later they might go camping together, or drive up to see Mount Rushmore, or Devil’s Tower; if Jonah had a flat tire, he would naturally call Troy. “I need some help,” he’d say, and Troy would make some wry joke. Then Troy would say: “Sure, bro. I’ll be there in two minutes.”

——

Was this corny? Clichéd?

Jonah wasn’t sure. The truth was, he didn’t really know how he might have felt in another life, in an alternate universe. He had seen movies and television shows, he’d read books, but he had very little sense of what daily, long-term friendship, brotherhood, might be like.

So far in his life he hadn’t had much experience with relationships. He knew what it felt like to fail, he knew that somehow he’d made a mess of his friendship with Steve and Holiday. He knew what it was like to live alone, to sit in a silent apartment, or in a bar. He knew, from a few experiences, what a one-night stand felt like, what it was like to have anonymous sex. He knew what it was like to work with people, the way to get along with coworkers. He knew how to be invisible, the way he was in high school, speaking to no one, walking with his head down through the hallways. He knew how to live with his mother.

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